This article was linked from Bill Moyers Morning Reads today. It presents the smoking gun proving what so many of us already knew or suspected - that the Wall Street foxes are the one guarding our national financial henhouse. It is definitely worth the read and following the relevant links - and I guarantee itll disabuse you of any positive feelings you may have had about our banking system in the US. It points out, rather plainly, why Dodd-Frank is a bust and why we need to get Glass-Steagal reinstated, along with a major shake-up in the Fed. The dysfunction within the Fed itself raises another issue, which to me underlies so much of the problems with the Federal government bureaucracy. We all know that there is too much overlap and duplication of effort within the government. It has become a sort of Gordian Knot by which even the wisest are intimidated. As a retired Federal employee of 23 years, I feel I know whereof I speak. Beside the overly complex arrangement -organization would be too euphemistic - the culture of nearly every agency or department I worked in or observed had one overriding feature, which is presented in the article - The Fed encourages its employees to keep their heads down, to obey their managers and to appease the banks. That is, bank regulators failed to do their jobs properly not because they lacked the tools but because they were discouraged from using them. The culture of Federal bureaucracy is exactly that, except in some reasonably rare instances. The vast majority of Federal bureaucracy is controlled, to the larger extent, bu middle management. These are career civil servants who have either come in at their level (GS-12 and up, stopping just below the supergrade appointees) or have survived the entry-level rigors and climbed the career ladder either through merit (rarely), or a combination of longevity and politics, which is more usual. They are set in their ways, dont want waves made, and tend to discourage independent thought or action from those below. Since they are the ones who manage the day-to-day activities based on the policies that descend from above, they are in a unique position to interpret policy and implement it (or not) in ways most advantageous to them. The idea is to protect their own turf and rice bowl and only be noticed from above if it is favorable to THEIR career or tenure. I can easily see how the bureaucracy at the Fed, combined with an old-boy network and possibly a little monetary transaction or two (conjecture, yes, but a lot of Federal managers seem to retire to go to work for the industries they regulated), all of which combines to provide an effective firewall to real accomplishment or proper regulation. Its just one more brick in the wall of big money coming, directly or latently, between proper, effective government and those governed.
Posted on: Fri, 26 Sep 2014 18:55:45 +0000
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